2009 Audi A8 W-12

Five Fabulous Flagships

Buy an Audi, and you’ve separated yourself from the conservative luxury-car mainstream. Audi doesn’t rely on time-tested styling cues or the promise of thick, isolating layers of luxury to sell its cars. It instead mixes audacious design and leading-edge engineering to establish its claim to greatness. And there’s no better example of that than its top-of-the-line A8 W-12 flagship.

When Audi introduced the first-generation, V-8–powered A8 in 1994, it pioneered the use of an aluminum space frame in a luxury vehicle, and of course it included the company’s signature Quattro all-wheel-drive system. When the second A8 came around in 2005, it upped the technological stakes by topping the range with a new model powered by a 450-hp 12-cylinder engine arranged in a unique W configuration—essentially, two narrow-angle V-6s with a common crank.

But 2008’s midcycle update of the A8 has finally brought the car the slick styling its tech merits. The huge, blunt front grille announces the car’s presence as if it were a giant exclamation point and emphasizes the A8’s aggressive haunches and sleek roofline. Those themes carry on inside, where the designers have applied wood veneers liberally and incorporate large center consoles front and rear. It all makes for the most avant-garde luxury flagship available.

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